Rustam Badasyan presents fight against corruption in Armenia during Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption

Today, within the scope of the visit to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, Minister Rustam Badasyan delivered a speech during the 8^th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

Expressing gratitude for the invitation and cordial reception, the Minister informed that over the past two years following the 7^th session of the UNCAC, Armenia has made the transition to democracy in terms of politics and institutions, particularly in terms of the fight against and prevention of corruption at different levels. In this context, Rustam Badasyan emphasised that the activities of the new Government are aimed at fighting against corruption, strengthening rule of law and building a sustainable society and added that local and international observation missions assessed the snap parliamentary elections held in December 2018 as truly free, fair, transparent and democratic.

Specifying the activities being carried out within the scope of the fight against corruption, the Minister presented the statistics on the criminal cases initiated with regard to corruption crimes in 2018 compared with those in 2017; based on the statistics, corruption crimes have increased by 60%, and the following institutional measures have been undertaken: adoption of the Anti-Corruption Strategy, establishment of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, improved process of declaration based on the recommendations of NGOs and international counterparts, development and implementation of anti-corruption education programmes, introduction of whistle-blowing system for corruption crimes and ensuring of the guarantees for protection of whistle-blowers, etc.

In regard to the fight against corruption, the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia also emphasised the importance of the ensuring of involvement of the public in the process of development of legal acts and the importance of the implementation of educational and awareness-raising measures.

Once again, expressing gratitude for the invitation, Rustam Badasyan also considered as important the development of the draft Law ''On civil forfeiture of illegal assets'', developed on the basis of the principles of the UNCAC, recently adopted by the Government and forwarded to the National Assembly, and the legal mechanism envisaged by the Law will allow to confiscate assets, the obtainment of which in considerable amounts will not be substantiated by the sources of legitimate incomes.